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The Frauen DFB-Pokal is the main national women's
football cup competition in Germany, thus the female
counterpart to the DFB-Pokal. It was created in 1980, and since
1991 includes Eastern teams as well. The most recent champions are
Turbine Potsdam. FFC Frankfurt
has won the most most titles with seven. The final has, with the
exception of the 1983 final, always been held on the same day prior
to the men's final. Since 1985 the final has thus been held in Berlin. In 2010 the final will
for the second time be held in a different city, Cologne, as a test to move the final
permanently to a different place than the men's final.[1]

Contents

Format

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Participation

All clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga are
allowed to compete in the cup as are the clubs which gained
promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. Also the winners of the regional
cup competitions compete in the cup. As an exception to these
rules, clubs' second teams are not allowed to participate in the
DFB-Pokal. When a second team wins its regional cup, that team's
regional association may send another team to the DFB-Pokal only if
the cup winning second team has not also achieved promotion to the
2nd Bundesliga.[2]

Seeding

Of the qualified teams, not all have to compete in the first
round. Exactly 32 teams have to compete in the second round of the
tournament, so in the first round the number of matches is
determined by the number of excess teams, resulting in one match
for each team after the 32rd. The teams that do not have to compete
in the first round are the best finishers from the previous
Bundesliga season, the number again determined by the number of
entrants to the tournament.

The pairings for round one, two, and three are not entirely
random as there is a commission allocating the clubs to two or four
groups as they see fit. These groups correspond with the regional
provenance of the clubs. In the third round the commission can
decide not to allocate the contestants to any groups. Within those
groups the clubs are again separated, this time depending on the
league they play in. For the draw, clubs from the Bundesligas are
put in one pot and the rest in a second pot. Non-Bundesliga clubs
automatically have home advantage against clubs from the
Bundesligas.[2]

Match
rules

All games are held over two times 45 minutes with the winner
advancing to the next round. In case of a draw the game gets an
extended by two times 15 minutes. If the score is still level after
120 minutes the winner is decided by penalty
shootout. In the final no extra time is added in case of a draw after
90 minutes, instead the penalty shootout follows immediately.[2]